Love Songs for his Wife's Sister
It sounds scandalous: Antonin Dvorak wrote a set of sweet love songs for his wife's sister. But the story is innocent enough. The young Dvorak was head-over-heels for Josefina, and wrote her 18 love songs. She snubbed Dvorak, who eventually found love and life-long happiness with Josefina's younger sister, Anna. Dvorak later arranged his songs for string quartet -- we'll hear the Emerson Quartet in concert at the 2010 Savannah Music Festival, in Georgia, play half a dozen "Cypresses" by Dvorak.